This Handbook summarizes the latest research on music learning consisting of new topics and up-dates from the New Handbook of Music Teaching and Learning (Oxford, 2002). Chapters are written by expert researchers in music teaching and learning, creating research summaries that will be useful for practitioners as well as beginning and advanced researchers.

The MENC Handbook of Research on Music Learning, Volume 1: Strategies brings together the best and most current research on methods for music learning, focusing squarely on the professions empirical and conceptual knowledge of how students gain competence in music at various ages and in different contexts. The collection of chapters, written by the foremost figures active in the field, takes a broad theoretical perspective on current, critical areas of research, including music development, music listening and reading, motivation and self-regulated learning in music, music perception, and movement. The books companion volume, Applications, builds an extensive and solid position of practice upon the frameworks and research presented here. Throughout both volumes in this essential set, focus is placed on the musical knowledge and musical skills needed to perform, create, understand, reflect on, enjoy, value, and respond to music. A key point of emphasis rests on the relationship between music learning and finding meaning in music, and as music technology plays an increasingly important role in learning today, chapters move beyond exclusively formal classroom instruction into other forms of systematic learning and informal instruction. Either individually or paired with its companion Volume 2: Applications, this indispensable overview of this growing area of inquiry will appeal to students and scholars in Music Education, as well as front-line music educators in the classroom.

General music is informed by a variety of teaching approaches and methods. These pedagogical frameworks guide teachers in planning and implementing instruction. Established approaches to teaching general music must be understood, critically examined, and possibly re-imagined for their potential in school and community music education programs. Teaching General Music brings together the top scholars and practitioners in general music education to create a panoramic view of general music pedagogy and to provide critical lenses through which to view these frameworks. The collection includes an examination of the most prevalent approaches to teaching general music, including Dalcroze, Informal Learning, Interdisciplinary, Kod ly, Music Learning Theory, Orff Schulwerk, Social Constructivism, and World Music Pedagogy. In addition, it provides critical analyses of general music and teaching systems, in light of the ways children around the world experience music in their lives. Rather than promoting or advocating for any single approach to teaching music, this book presents the various approaches in conversation with one another. Highlighting the perceived and documented benefits, limits, challenges, and potentials of each, Teaching General Music offers myriad lenses through which to re-read, re-think, and re-practice these approaches.

"Provides an introduction to research and scholarship in music education. This textbook covers topic formulation, information literacy, reading and evaluating research studies, and planning and conducting original studies within accepted guidelines, based on research conventions in music, the other arts, education, and the humanities ... Skills in research and scholarship introduce students to the language and protocols by which to succeed in today's competitive market of grant writing, arts advocacy, and public outreach as a contributing member of the community of music educators. Following the legacy begun by Rainbow and Froehlich in Research in Music Education, published in 1987, the objectives of this book are: To expand what is meant by music education and research, To help students find their niche in those definitions, and To teach tangible skills that are useful for music educators with diverse instructional goals and career aspirations." -- Blackwells website.

How do we develop musical creativity? How is musical creativity nurtured in collaborative improvisation? How is it used as a communicative tool in music therapy? This comprehensive volume offers new research on these questions by an international team of experts from the fields of music education, music psychology and music therapy. The book celebrates the rich diversity of ways in which learners of all ages develop and use musical creativity. Contributions focus broadly on the composition/improvisation process, considering its conceptualization and practices in a number of contexts. The authors examine how musical creativity can be fostered in formal settings, drawing examples from primary and secondary schools, studio, conservatoire and university settings, as well as specialist music schools and music therapy sessions. These essays will inspire readers to think deeply about musical creativity and its development. The book will be of crucial interest to music educators, policy makers, researchers and students, as it draws on applied research from across the globe, promoting coherent and symbiotic links between education, music and psychology research.

Choral Artistry provides a practical and organic approach to teaching choral singing and sight-reading. The text is grounded in current research from the fields of choral pedagogy, music theory, music perception and cognition. Topics include framing a choral curriculum based on the Kodály concept; launching the academic year for beginning, intermediate, and advanced choirs; building partwork skills; sight-reading; progressive music theory sequences for middle to college level choirs; teaching strategies; choral rehearsal plans as well as samples of how to teach specific repertoire from medieval to contemporary choral composers. As part of the Kodály philosophy's practical approach, authors Micheál Houlahan and Philip Tacka employ two models for learning choral literature: Performance Through Sound Analysis Pedagogy (PTSA) and Performance through Sound Analysis and Notation (PTSAN). Both models delineate an approach to teaching a choral work that significantly improves students' musicianship while engaging the ensemble in learning the overall composition in partnership with the conductor. The final chapter of the book includes rubrics to assess the effectiveness of a choral program. This book does not purport to be a comprehensive choral pedagogy text. It is a detailed guide to helping choral directors at all levels improve the choral singing and musicianship of their students from a Kodály perspective.

Part I. Musical Learning. Introduction to Music Psychology ; Development ; Motivation ; Practice -- Part II. Musical Skills. Learning and Remembering Musical Works ; Expressing and Interpreting ; Composing and Improvising ; Managing Performance Anxiety -- Part III. Musical Roles. The Performer ; The Teacher ; The Listener ; The User.

Peer Mentoring in Music Education: Developing Effective Student Leadership offers a practical guide to peer mentoring in music education, enabling music teachers to implement and benefit from this technique with their students. Drawing on extensive and current research in education and music education, the core focus of this book is on the instructional practice of peer mentoring and how students can become effective leaders. Through case studies and examples focused on music education, the author shows how peer mentoring can transform learning for all students and foster student leadership as part of a student-centered instructional approach. Part I explores the foundations of these instructional practices, the role of the music teacher, the role of the student, and how socializing and student leadership contribute to meaningful learning. Part II portrays stories of four exemplary music teachers who use peer mentoring and student leadership in their music programs across a wide array of age levels and music classes and ensembles. Music teachers will benefit from learning about the transformative power of peer mentoring and student leadership, and how these instructional practices aid with diversity, equity, inclusion, and access so that all students are valued in the music class and ensemble. Peer Mentoring in Music Education: Developing Effective Student Leadership provides a comprehensive guide for in-service and preservice music teachers seeking to understand peer mentoring and incorporate this technique in teaching.

Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology, Second Edition, is geared toward music students yet incorporates other disciplines to provide an explanation for why and how we make sense of music and respond to it—cognitively, physically, and emotionally. All human societies in every corner of the globe engage in music. Taken collectively, these musical experiences are widely varied and hugely complex affairs. How did human beings come to be musical creatures? How and why do our bodies respond to music? Why do people have emotional responses to music? Music in the Human Experience seeks to understand and explain these phenomena at the core of what it means to be a human being. New to this edition: Expanded references and examples of non-Western musical styles Updated literature on philosophical and spiritual issues Brief sections on tuning systems and the acoustics of musical instruments A section on creativity and improvisation in the discussion of musical performance New studies in musical genetics Greatly increased usage of explanatory figures

Thinking about Thinking: Metacognition for Music Learning providesmusic educators with information, inspiration, and practical suggestions for teaching music. Written for music educators in multiple content areas and grade levels, the book sets forth guidelines for promoting the use of metacognitive skills among music students. Along with presenting an extensive overview of research on the topic, Dr. Benton shows how ideas gleaned from research can be put into daily practice in music classrooms and studios. General music teachers, directors of choral and instrumental ensembles, applied music teachers, future music educators, and music education collegiate faculty will find useful ideas and information here. In the current educational climate where all teachers are required to demonstrate that they encourage higher order thinking among their students, Thinking about Thinking: Metacognition for Music Learning gives music educators the tools they need to accomplish the task.